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* @Id: curs_initscr.3x,v 1.10 2000/07/08 12:47:39 tom Exp @
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<TITLE>curs_initscr 3x</TITLE><link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
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<H1>curs_initscr 3x</H1>
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<PRE>
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</PRE>
<H2>NAME</H2><PRE>
<STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>endwin</STRONG>, <STRONG>isendwin</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_term</STRONG>, <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG> -
<STRONG>curses</STRONG> screen initialization and manipulation routines
</PRE>
<H2>SYNOPSIS</H2><PRE>
<STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
<STRONG>WINDOW</STRONG> <STRONG>*initscr(void);</STRONG>
<STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>endwin(void);</STRONG>
<STRONG>bool</STRONG> <STRONG>isendwin(void);</STRONG>
<STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*newterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*type,</STRONG> <STRONG>FILE</STRONG> <STRONG>*outfd,</STRONG> <STRONG>FILE</STRONG>
<STRONG>*infd);</STRONG>
<STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_term(SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*new);</STRONG>
<STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>delscreen(SCREEN*</STRONG> <STRONG>sp);</STRONG>
</PRE>
<H2>DESCRIPTION</H2><PRE>
<STRONG>initscr</STRONG> is normally the first <STRONG>curses</STRONG> routine to call when
initializing a program. A few special routines sometimes
need to be called before it; these are <STRONG>slk_init</STRONG>, <STRONG>filter</STRONG>,
<STRONG>ripoffline</STRONG>, <STRONG>use_env</STRONG>. For multiple-terminal applications,
<STRONG>newterm</STRONG> may be called before <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>.
The initscr code determines the terminal type and initial-
izes all <STRONG>curses</STRONG> data structures. <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> also causes the
first call to <STRONG>refresh</STRONG> to clear the screen. If errors
occur, <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> writes an appropriate error message to
standard error and exits; otherwise, a pointer is returned
to <STRONG>stdscr</STRONG>.
A program that outputs to more than one terminal should
use the <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> routine for each terminal instead of
<STRONG>initscr</STRONG>. A program that needs to inspect capabilities, so
it can continue to run in a line-oriented mode if the ter-
minal cannot support a screen-oriented program, would also
use <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. The routine <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> should be called once
for each terminal. It returns a variable of type <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG>
which should be saved as a reference to that terminal.
The arguments are the <EM>type</EM> of the terminal to be used in
place of <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG>, a file pointer for output to the terminal,
and another file pointer for input from the terminal (if
<EM>type</EM> is <STRONG>NULL</STRONG>, <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG> will be used). The program must also
call <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> for each terminal being used before exiting
from <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. If <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> is called more than once for the
same terminal, the first terminal referred to must be the
last one for which <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> is called.
A program should always call <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> before exiting or
escaping from <STRONG>curses</STRONG> mode temporarily. This routine
restores tty modes, moves the cursor to the lower left-
hand corner of the screen and resets the terminal into the
proper non-visual mode. Calling <STRONG>refresh</STRONG> or <STRONG>doupdate</STRONG> after
a temporary escape causes the program to resume visual
mode.
The <STRONG>isendwin</STRONG> routine returns <STRONG>TRUE</STRONG> if <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> has been
called without any subsequent calls to <STRONG>wrefresh</STRONG>, and <STRONG>FALSE</STRONG>
otherwise.
The <STRONG>set_term</STRONG> routine is used to switch between different
terminals. The screen reference <STRONG>new</STRONG> becomes the new cur-
rent terminal. The previous terminal is returned by the
routine. This is the only routine which manipulates
<STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> pointers; all other routines affect only the cur-
rent terminal.
The <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG> routine frees storage associated with the
<STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> data structure. The <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> routine does not do
this, so <STRONG>delscreen</STRONG> should be called after <STRONG>endwin</STRONG> if a par-
ticular <STRONG>SCREEN</STRONG> is no longer needed.
</PRE>
<H2>RETURN VALUE</H2><PRE>
<STRONG>endwin</STRONG> returns the integer <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> upon
successful completion.
Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
</PRE>
<H2>NOTES</H2><PRE>
Note that <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> may be macros.
</PRE>
<H2>PORTABILITY</H2><PRE>
These functions are described in the XSI Curses standard,
Issue 4. It specifies that portable applications must not
call <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> more than once.
Old versions of curses, e.g., BSD 4.4, may have returned a
null pointer from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> when an error is detected,
rather than exiting. It is safe but redundant to check
the return value of <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> in XSI Curses.
</PRE>
<H2>SEE ALSO</H2><PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_refresh.3x.html">curs_refresh(3x)</A></STRONG>,
<STRONG><A HREF="curs_slk.3x.html">curs_slk(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_util.3x.html">curs_util(3x)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
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